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"You know, I still can't believe I actually let you talk me into taking a computer class this semester," Grant says to his best friend and then takes a sip from his beer.
"Oh come on," his friend replies. "It's not like it's going to kill you to try something new."
"It's not that I don't like trying new things, Fitz. I'm just not particularly fond of computers."
"Yes, well, I think the many computers you've destroyed over the years out of sheer frustration can speak for that."
"Exactly. So then you know that I'm probably not going to do very well in this class. I might as well just drop it before classes start." He takes another swig from his beer.
"Classes start tomorrow, Grant," Fitz tells him, "I don't think they're going to let you drop the class."
"First two weeks you're allowed to add and drop classes without any repercussions," Grant informs his friend.
Fitz sighs, "I really wish you weren't a freak who memorized every single rule and regulation for this school."
Grant just smiles and drinks his beer. He swallows, "But seriously man, I'm so stressed out about taking this class. I need something to take my mind off of it for a little while."
"That's why I brought you to this bar," Fitz reminds him, gesturing to the vast area of the bar around them.
"Um, I'm pretty sure I'm the one who brought you here."
"Yes, well, we're here, I don't think it really matters who brought who."
Grant holds his hands up, "Alright, alright." He picks up his beer and takes another drink.
"Also," Fitz speaks up, "you might want to know that your professor is new, too. Apparently she's one of, if not the youngest at the University, but she's really good at what she does."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Grant raises an eyebrow at his friend.
"That depends. Is it making you feel any better?"
"Not in the slightest."
"Here you go."
Looking up, Grant sees the bartender set another bottle of beer down on the bar top in front of him.
"I didn't order another one," Grant tells the bartender, holding the beer up.
The man just shrugs, "It's from the lady over there," he motions with his head to where the tables are at in the bar.
Turning his head, Grant looks towards the multiple tables in the room and his eyes fall on a specific table just a few feet away. There are two girls sitting across from each other at the table. The girl on the left has light, straight hair and is staring down into the basket of fries in front of her. But the girl on the right is looking right at him. She has long, dark brown hair that is slightly wavy and hangs down her back. Her chocolate brown eyes are boring into his and he can see a hint of a smile on her dark red lips.
He holds the beer that she obviously sent him up in the air and gives her a smile and a slight nod of his head in thanks.
Her smile widens and she nods her head back, the smile staying on her lips as she takes a large swig from her beer bottle.
Grant responds, taking a sip from his own beer before turning back around towards Fitz. When he looks at his friend, he's looking at him with wide eyes. "What?"
"You have got to be kidding me," Fitz says exasperatedly.
"What?" Grant repeats.
"Did you not just see that?"
"See what?"
"You are ridiculous, Grant. That girl is into you. She was practically undressing you with her eyes."
"You're crazy."
"Am I?" Fitz raises an eyebrow. "I'm telling you man, you need to go over there and talk to her."
Grant thinks for a moment. She ordered him a beer and they don't even know each other. And then there's the way she smiled at him, but she could have been just smiling to smile. But the way she was looking at him, that's not how you smile at just anyone.
"Tell me the truth; do you think I'll do a good job?" Skye asks her best friend as they sit at a table in the middle of the bar. She holds her beer bottle in one hand, gently swirling the liquid inside of it.
"You're going to do great, Skye," her best friend, Jemma, tells her. "You're pretty much the best at what you do. This school is extremely lucky that they managed to hire you on such short notice."
Skye sighs, "I know. I'm just really nervous."
"Why on earth would you be nervous? You can do CS in your sleep. Teaching it shouldn't be a problem for you."
"That's not why I'm nervous."
"Then why are you?"
"Because I'm most likely the same age as some of the kids that'll be in my class. And the rest of them will be older. It's going to be weird to teach them."
"Just relax, Skye. You're going to do fine. I know you are."
"Thanks Jem. I just think I need something that'll help me relax and de-stress."
"Isn't that why we're here?" Jemma asks, gesturing to the vast area of the bar around them.
Skye shrugs, "I mean, I guess so." She takes a sip from her beer.
"Come on, Skye. This was your idea to come here. Can't you please try and enjoy yourself?"
"I have been, but it's not that easy."
"Well then maybe you need something else to distract you."
"Something like him?"
Jemma follows Skye's gaze to see where she is looking. Sitting at the bar is a man with short black hair. He's wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and a short sleeved black t-shirt. "You can't be serious," Jemma says.
"Look at those arms," Skye smiles. "He must work out."
"Skye!" Jemma exclaims, getting her friends attention.
"What?"
"You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"
"That depends. What are you thinking I'm thinking?"
"I um, you, uh, and that man, um, you can't—"
"Jemma, hold up. Do you really think I'm going to try and get that guy to sleep with me?" Jemma looks down sheepishly. "Wow, Jemma. I can't believe you."
"Skye, I promise you I didn't mean anything by it." She looks up from the table, "It's just that, well, you don't always make the best…" She trails off when she sees the wide smile on Skye's face.
"I'm just messing with you, Jem." Skye tells her.
"Here are your fries."
The two girls look up to see the waiter setting a basket of fries down on the table.
"Thank you," Jemma smiles, starting in on the basket of fries.
"I have a question," Skye says to the waiter. "Well, not really a question, more of a request. I'd like to send whatever he's drinking to the fine looking guy at the bar. The one in the black shirt who's probably all muscle. Could you do that for me?"
"Of course," the waiter smiles politely.
"Thank you," Skye says as he turns and walks away towards the bar. "And now we wait," she smiles, taking a sip from her beer.
"How do you even know that he'll be interested? He could be with someone already."
"You never know unless you ask, or in this case, order him a drink and hope he wants to make out as a stress reliever."
"Oh Skye," Jemma sighs, shaking her head.
"What?" Skye shrugs, "If he's already in a relationship, then I'll leave him alone. And obviously I won't come straight out and ask if he wants to make out. I'll wait for a minute. But I'm definitely going to make out with him."
Jemma doesn't reply, instead deciding to turn her gaze on the basket of fries in front of her. Skye's eyes remain on the backside of the man at the bar.
A moment later, she sees him turn his head towards her and she gets a better look at his face. His eyes are dark brown and his facial features are very defined. He has just a small bit of stubble on his face and she thinks it makes him look much more attractive.
He raises his bottle of beer towards her and nods his head at her with a small smile. She grins back at him and continues smiling as she takes a drink from her beer, her eyes remaining locked with his. She sees him take a drink before turning back to his friend.
"What was that?" Jemma asks and Skye turns her head.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"The way you were looking at him."
"What way?"
"The way in which you were practically undressing him with your eyes."
"I was not—okay, so maybe just a little. But I was just thinking about whether or not he has abs. And if he does, how defined they are."
"You're ridiculous," Jemma says.
"Hey, all I did was buy him a beer. If he comes over and starts talking to me, that's all on him."
"Yes, but you initiated it by sending him that beer."
Skye shrugs and takes a sip from her own beer.
"Hey," Grant says when he reaches the table where Skye and Jemma are sitting.
Skye looks up at him and smiles, "Hey yourself."
"I uh, I just wanted to say thanks, for the beer."
"No problem. I figured you might need another one."
He chuckles, "Yeah, well, it was very much appreciated. I definitely needed to take my mind off things, because thinking about doing new things that you're most likely going to fail at horribly is not very fun."
"I know what you mean," she smiles. "Well, not about the failing horribly thing, because I'm awesome. But about doing new things. I'm a big ball of nerves right about now."
"Well I'm sorry to hear that," he smiles at her. She smiles back. The two of them just spend a few minutes staring at one another before Grant speaks up again, "Hey, do you want to get out of here? Maybe go for a walk with me?"
Skye beams at him, "I would love to." She stands from the table and picks up her jacket and purse. "Jem," she says to her friend, "Will you—"
"Yes. I'll cover the bill. Now go."
"You're the best," she smiles and leans down to hug her.
"I know," Jemma smiles.
Skye presses a friendly kiss to Jemma's temple before standing up straight and making her way over to Grant. "You ready to get out of here?"
He smiles at her, "Definitely."
The two of them turn and make their way towards the front door of the bar.
"Just so we're clear," Skye begins, "we're just going for a walk."
"Andy maybe grab some dessert?" Grant suggests.
"Okay. A walk and some dessert. But that's all. I don't want you getting any ideas."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
Falling back onto the bed, breathing heavily, Grant runs one of his hands through his hair.
"Wow," he says, looking up at the ceiling.
"Definitely," Skye replies, turning her head to the side so she can look at Grant. "You certainly excelled in many, many ways."
"Thanks." He turns his head to look at her, "You weren't so bad yourself."
She reaches up and smacks his bare chest with the back of her hand. "Shut up," she says to him.
He chuckles, "No, you were really good, though. I didn't know that half of those things were even possible."
"Well now you know," she smiles at him. "And now you can share them with the next girl you're with."
"Who says that I plan on there being another girl?" He smiles back at her.
She raises her eyebrows at him, "You were thinking that this," she gestures between them, "was going to happen again? Oh that's so cute," she smiles at him as she pats his chest gently.
He grabs her wrist in his hand and lifts it up, placing a gently kiss to the inside of her palm. "Well I was hoping that I'd at least get to take you to dinner sometime," he tells her.
"And what makes you so sure that I'd say yes?"
"Well, as I recall, you were saying yes all night. Figured it'd be an ongoing theme."
She blushes, hiding her face in the pillow below her.
"What time is it?" She asks him after a minute, turning her head to the side so she can look at him.
Grant rolls over in the bed and picks up his jeans off of the floor to pull out his phone and check the time. "It's almost 8."
"You need to leave then," she tells him as she stands from the bed, pulling the sheet around her body.
"What?" He asks. "Somewhere you have to be?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. And it's a new thing, so I really don't want to be late."
"I get it, I do. I actually have somewhere to be too." He stands from the bed and pulls on his boxers.
"Good. Well, uh, while you get dressed I'm going to get in the shower. Just let yourself out."
"Will do," he smiles. "And Skye?"
She turns back around to face him, "Yeah?"
"Thanks for last night. It was really great."
"You're welcome. But this morning was way better. That's definitely one way to wake up."
She tosses him a smile as she makes her way into her bathroom and shuts the door.
Grant smiles as he picks up the rest of his clothes and pulls them on, "Yes it was."
"Is this seat taken?" Grant asks one of the girls in his class, pointing to the empty seat next to her.
"Not at all," she smiles up at him.
"Cool," he smiles back, sitting down in the chair and turning the computer on. He swings his backpack onto the back of his chair and then relaxes into it, letting out a large yawn.
"Tired?" The girl next to him asks, letting out a small laugh.
"Had a long night," he smiles, thinking back to just a few hours before. "I'm Grant Ward," he says, holding his hand out to her.
"Kara Palamas," she smiles back, accepting his hand. "I think I've actually seen you around campus before. You hang out with that kid Fitz, right?"
Grant nods his head, "Yeah. He's my best friend."
"That's nice. I think I've only talked to him once or twice. He's seems really sweet."
"He's pretty cool. We've known each other for years. He's actually the one who convinced me to take this computer class."
"I'm guessing your major has nothing to do with computers."
"Not a thing," he replies with a smile. "But Fitz told me it'll be a good thing for me to do."
"Well he's not wrong," Kara tells him. "I'm only taking this class because my mom insisted that I do."
"She into computers?"
"She's an IT person. She said that she wants me to explore all of my options before I choose my major. But really, I think she just wants me to go into the IT field as well."
"Ah. Well, at least your mom cares. My parents haven't called me even once in the last four years to see how school was going for me."
"I'm sorry," she gives him a sympathetic look.
"Don't be," he waves her off. "I've gotten over it. Besides, I've got Fitz. He's the only family I need, we're practically brothers."
"That's great that you have someone who cares so much about you."
"Yeah, I guess so." He gives a small smile. "Hey, have you heard anything about the teacher? Apparently she's one of the youngest teachers the University has employed. And it's only because she's extremely good at what she does."
"Yeah, no one knows what she looks like though. She was hired on at the last minute, so they don't even have a photo of her up on the school website yet."
"Then I guess we'll have to wait like everyone else to see what she looks like."
"Yes we will."
"Alright everyone," the professor says as she enters the classroom, "please find a computer and log in."
Grant and Kara turn their attention to their now loaded computers and input their log in information to load the computer even further.
"Welcome to Computer Sciences 101. I'm Professor Conrad. Hopefully through this course I'll be able to help you get a basic understanding of computers and the different programs that are available."
She turns around to face the class and her eyes roam around the room, taking a quick glance at each of the students.
She almost stops breathing when they lock eyes. He almost passes out and falls out of his chair.
When they both manage to recover, they just stare at each other for a moment, completely ignoring the rest of the class around them.
"She's my professor? Oh no."
"He's my student? You have to got to be kidding me."